Names—Thomas Hobbes (1588-1678)“Social Contract” thinkers substituted naturalistic arguments for the spiritualistic arguments of people like AquinasSomething like a peace treaty that everyone agrees to because they are all exhausted from the war of each against allEveryone who agrees to the social contract also agrees to grant the state the right to use force to maintain the contractHobbes argued that people naturally pursue their own interests without caring about whether they hurt anyone else.Leads to a “war of each against will” in which no one is safe because of all people look out only for themselvesBeccariaHe was a protest writer in the 1700s who sought to change the excessive and cruel punishments by applying the rationalist, social contract ideas to crime and criminal justiceFrench Revolution and American Revolution emerged after publication of Beccaria’s bookClassical School of Criminology—proposed a simple model of human choice that was based on the rational calculation of costs and benefitsPunishments should be proportional to the seriousness of the offense so the costs of the crime always exceed the reward“Rational Choice Approach”Became the basis for all criminal justice systemsCapital punishment should be abolished and be replaced by imprisonment—the law should not distinguish between the rich and poorBeccaria’s ideas spread to the rest of industrialized worldClassical Theory to Deterrence ResearchLombrosoRelied on Darwin’s theory of evolution to argue that criminals were biological throwbacks to an early evolutionary stage people more primitive and less highly evolved than their noncriminal counterparts—atavistic.Three Major Classes of CriminalsBorn Criminal—atavistic reversions to a lower or more primitive evolutionary form of development and were though to constitute about one-third of the total number of offendersInsane Criminal—the grouped idiots, imbeciles, paranoiacs, sufferers from melancholia, and those afflicted with general paralysis, dementia, alcoholism, epilepsy, or hysteria.Criminaloid—those did not have any special physical or mental characteristics but whose mental and emotional makeup were such that under certain circumstances they engage in criminal behavior.Multifactor CausationPhineas GageA person associated biological criminologyInvolved in a work that was often dangerous, left eye was half shut, he was a railroad workerPrior to the accident he was described as fun, loving and easy going personAfter the accident, his personality shifted—temperamentalThe accident had to do with something altering his biology—his brain changed, he became a “rough dude”DurkheimArgued that inequality is a natural and inevitable human condition that is not associated with social maladies—unless there is also a breakdown of social rules (Sociological Perspective of Crime)Anomie—result of rapid social change, which was a response to the modernization of societyMechanical to Organic SocietyCrime is “Normal”—society without crime would be pathologically controlledCrime is the price society pays for the possibility of progressTheory of Modernization—the progression of societies from the mechanical to the organic form—argued different things would happen at different timesPrimitive Societies (Mechanical)Modernized Societies (Transition from Mechanical to Organic)“Imagine a society of saints…”Travis HirschiThe theorist who is most closely identified with control theory (conservative theory). In his book Causes of Delinquency (1969)—he argued it is not necessary to explain the motivation for delinquency, since “we are all animals and thus all naturally capable of committing criminal acts” (Positivist School, Neo-Classical School)Proposed a comprehensive control theory—individuals who were tightly bonded to social groups, such as the family, the school, and peers, would be less likely to commit delinquent acts.Attachment is the most important element of the social bondDerived from Functionalist Schools—Ivan NyeSocial Control Theory (Social Bond Theory)—proposes that the process of social learning and socialization builds self-control and reduces the inclination to engage in criminal behavior—those who are less bonded are more likely to engage in criminal behavior4 Elements of Bond (ACIB)—(1) Attachment (2) Commitment (3) Involvement (4) BeliefGeneral Theory of Crime (Gottfredson and Hirschi)—locus of control moved from external relationships to an internal mechanismShaw and McKaySocial scientist in the 1920s—when the United States was “gripped” in a crime wave that was generated by the resistance to Prohibition, a problem that was particularly severe in ChicagoDelinquency Areas—invasion, dominance, succession (ethnic); when a particular location in the city is “invaded” by new residents, the established symbiotic relationships that bind that location to a natural area are destroyed—the natural organization of the location will be severly impairedZone II (zone of transition)—where the most crime occursUsed official records of delinquency to attempt to locate the spatial distribution of delinquency (it is all about location!)Social Disorganization CharacterizedPhysical Status—located within or immediately adjacent to areas of heavy industry or commerce, condemned housingEconomic Status—found in the areas of lowest economic status as determined by a number of specific factors, low rents, how rate of infant deathsPopulation Composition—associated with higher concentrations of foreign-born and African American heads of familiesInner city areas—Zone IIRuth Rosner KornhauserNeighborhoods and Crime—Social Disorganization is defined as an inability of community members to achieve shared values or to solve jointly experienced problems (Sociological Perspective of Crime)Community Control Model—high rates of crime and delinquencyThree Attributes of Disorganized CommunitiesPovertyRacial/Ethnic HeterogeneityHigh Residential MobilityReceived a large number of empirical studies to support this model—Bursik and Webb; used data on Chicago neighborhoodsSocial Disorganization—produces delinquent subcultures which sustain delinquent values that are passed onMaintain system values that are set against them (Zone II)Robert MertonStrain Theories—Anomie in American SocietyArgued that many of the appetites of the individuals are not “natural” but rather originate in the “culture”
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